Whilst going through some old photographs I came across this one of a HS Harrier GR1 being recovered form a crop field. Does anybody have any information on this incident or what happened to the aircraft afterwards. Thanks Nick
Hi Nick, I have no info regarding the incident but it seems this Harrier ended up at Gatwick Harrier XV751 photographed at the Gatwick Aviation Museum, Charlwood, Surrey
Someone may correct me here, but if the aircraft in the incident was a GR1 I would suggest that the crash didn't end its days flying. I say this because it seems to have been upgraded to a GR3 before ending up at Gatwick Aviation Museum, and I'm not too sure if they would bother doing that to a non-operational aircraft.
Someone may correct me here, but if the aircraft in the incident was a GR1 I would suggest that the crash didn't end its days flying. I say this because it seems to have been upgraded to a GR3 before ending up at Gatwick Aviation Museum, and I'm not too sure if they would bother doing that to a non-operational aircraft. You're probably right, that it is what I thought. The only other possibility is that it may have been used as an instructional airframe for technicial training, which is why it may have a GR3 nose. Nick
"Aircraft damaged Cat 4 but repaired. - 3 squadron" No further details yet though: http://www.gatwick-aviation-museum.co.uk/ They also say it's a GR3 now - I couldn't possibly comment though, my modern aviation knowledge being even dimmer than my WW2. They're looking for restoration volunteers on it. Cn= 712014 from here http://www.radarmalvinas.com.ar/09FEB%20BRIT%20HARRIER/5MAY%20HAR-PROD%20traba.pdf I love Harriers, thinking about it they may be the Spitfire for my generation, I'm a smidge too late for the Lightning, the Falklands usage being the 'modern' mellow air-to-air story for me, and watching them hover over Southsea common as a kid was something else. In fact, it was more about hearing them... not sure I've ever encountered such an impressively noisy machine.
Looking through my copy of 'British Aircraft Serials' - Robertson, I find that XV751 was one of a batch of 60 Hawker Siddeley Harrier's GR.1 of which the majority were converted to GR.1A and then all, apart from 11 were converted to GR.3. XV751 being one of those converted.
"Aircraft damaged Cat 4 but repaired. - 3 squadron" I've just found another site that that says that it served with 3 Sqn and the 1 Sqn after repair. http://home.planet.nl/~alder010/Production/GB.html There are references to it being used as an instructional airframe at Lee-on-Solent on other sites before it arrived at the Gatwick Aviation museum. So it would appear it had quite a career after this mishap. Nick
Looks like the crane driver is doing more damage than the lcrash, looks more lkike a forced landing than a crash. Funny angle for so little damage...
A sad day for the RAF and the UK's aircraft industry. The Harrier takes its final bow - Local - Peterborough Today
A sad day for the RAF and the UK's aircraft industry. The Harrier takes its final bow - Local - Peterborough Today Sad indeed.
I'm afraid I don't know all the details to this story but I vaguely remember an old war story where this aircraft and its pilot got into difficulties and made an unplanned landing, it was set down in a cabbage field and it flipped over. The pilot didn't eject and was extracated by the Rescue team quick on the spot. If the war story is to be believed then the pilot was Tony McKeon, then a Flt Lt. The aircraft was repaired and did indeed see further service in Germany with 3(F) Sqn and later with 1 Sqn.
